Sun, Qiu add to China’s gold haul
Print Edition
China’s Sun Yang ticked the first box on the way to a possible treble of freestyle golds when he comfortably won the 400 meters at the world swimming championships in Barcelona yesterday.
In another triumph for China, diver Qiu Bo made amends for the disappointment of missing out on Olympic gold last year to retain his world title in the men’s 10m platform final yesterday.
The 22-year-old Sun, who was Olympic champion in London last year, led from the start to improve on his silver medal from Shanghai two years ago with a time of three minutes 41.59 seconds.
Kosuke Hagino of Japan took silver, more than three seconds behind in 3:44.82 and American Connor Jaeger won the bronze in 3:44:85.
Sun, who also won the 1,500m gold in London, is bidding to join Australia’s Grant Hackett as the only men to win world championship freestyle titles at 400m, 800m and 1,500m.
“I had a very hard time in the past half year,” an emotional Sun told CCTV after his triumph.
“I overcame big difficulties and I came here to try my best not to disappoint those who have been backing me.”
Sun said he will strike for further breakthrough in personal events of 800m and 1,500m freestyle.
Earlier in the day, Qiu produced a near flawless display to finish well clear on 581 points with American Olympic champion David Boudia in second on 517.40 points and Germany’s Sascha Klein back in third on 508.55 points. There was disappointment for Britain’s Tom Daley who could finish only sixth.
It was sweet revenge for Qiu, who was surprisingly edged off the top of the podium in London by Boudia, as his victory meant China finished the diving meet with nine out of a possible 10 golds.
The 20-year-old had only qualified sixth in Saturday’s semifinal but he produced his best when it mattered most in the final and was even awarded a perfect dive by the judges for his back three-and-a-half somersault pike in the fourth round.
Boudia was powerless to stop Qiu’s march to gold despite leading for the first two rounds, but was still solid throughout as he picked up a second consecutive world championship silver medal.
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